Showing results by narrator "Gordon Griffin" in All Categories

February 1918. Detective Inspector Harvey Marmion and Detective Sergeant Joe Keedy are pulled from their beds to attend a sinister siege involving three burglars where one policeman has already been shot dead. Attempts at talking the men in the house into surrender are met with stony silence so the police proceed to batter down the door and Keedy bravely leads the way. A gunshot is heard. Keedy is hit. As Keedy is rushed to hospital, Marmion is on the trail of the men who fled the scene and startling revelations emerge.

He's respected - not very respected - chief had been grumbling all the way from London, and now the speeding Alvis was well into the wild and hilly country of Derbyshire, he was more caustic than ever. When Chief Inspector Bill 'Ironsides' Cromwell accepts an invitation to spend Christmas at his sergeant's family seat, Cloon Castle, he doesn't realise the mysteries he'll encounter. First, there is a mysterious figure who leaves no footprints, despite the heavy snow.

May 1915. As zeppelin bombs fall on London and with the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German hysteria reaches fever pitch and attacks on German immigrants surge. Not even the West End of London is immune. Jacob Stein's bespoke tailoring business comes under brutal attack, leaving his safe ransacked, his daughter, Ruth, raped and Jacob dead.

Thought-provoking short essays by Britain's leading public philosopher that show us how to discover our own answers to life's challenges Rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers instead suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question, and arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection.

A must-read for makers, tinkerers, fixers and creators, The Repair Shop's Dominic Chinea shares his knowledge and enthusiasm for the history and practical uses of tools. A tool is an object with endless possibilities. Contained within each item is the chance to create, to inspire, to repair and...

Alderman John Foster purchases a piece of land from the Magdalen Nunnery intending to build a chapel, dedicated to the Magi - the Three Kings of Cologne - and some almshouses. He little imagines the shocking discovery about to be made.

The people and businesses of London are quickly recovering from the ravages of the plague, none faster than the Court of Charles II where excess, corruption and debauchery has rebounded at a frenetic pace. In Westminster, in the haphazard corridors of White Hall Palace, plans are afoot for a grandiose ball in honour of a long-dead but English-born Pope. Meanwhile, the markets and coffee houses in the city are awash with rumours of war and portents of a coming disaster, inflamed by uncensored newssheets and the wagging tongues of dissatisfied citizens.

In October 1975, an assassin tried to murder Norman Scott on Exmoor, but the trigger failed and he only succeeded in shooting Scott's beloved dog, Rinka. Scott subsequently found himself at the centre of a major political scandal and became an unlikely queer icon. But this was never his intention.

This audiobook chronicles the triumphs and failures of his surgical life. Having spent his childhood in the backstreets of a northern steel town, he went on to become one of the world's foremost heart surgeons. His drive for perfection in his profession took him to the world-renowned Harefield Hospital, the foremost heart surgery centre in Birmingham, Alabama and the newly-created Cardiothoracic Centre in Oxford. Then in 2019 in Wuhan he was the first Western doctor to learn about Covid-19 before the virus was identified.

Gogol's great comic masterpiece paints an hilariously satirical picture of provincial life in 19th century Russia. Its publication in 1847 not only provided inspiration for succeeding generations of Russian writers, but fanned the already flickering flames of social discontent which were eventually to flare up and consume Russia in the revolution of 1917.

What did he eat last? Whom did he eat, in fact? Lumbered with working alongside reptilian Chief Spy Anacrites, Falco has the perfect plan to make money - he will assist Vespasian in the Emperor's 'Great Census' of AD 73. His potential fee could finally allow him to join the middle ranks and be worthy of long-suffering Helena Justina. Unexpectedly confronted with the murder of a man-eating lion, Falco is distracted from his original task, uncovering a bitter rivalry between the gladiators' trainers.

Charlie Rutland specialized in scandal hunting. As a journalist at a smart magazine, his job was to search out anything that could be turned into a good smear story. Then, while carrying out some 'investigations' in Yorkshire, his career came to an abrupt and violent end. Inspector Crow, skeletal as ever, arrives from Scotland Yard to find a formidable task awaiting him.

On 1 July 1916, after a five-day bombardment, 11 British and 5 French divisions launched their long-awaited 'Big Push' on German positions on high ground above the Rivers Ancre and Somme on the Western Front. Some ground was gained but at a terrible cost. In killing grounds whose names are indelibly imprinted on 20th-century memory, German machine guns - manned by troops who had sat out the storm of shellfire in deep dugouts - inflicted terrible losses on the British infantry.

This classic novel takes place in Lantern Yard, a slum street in an unnamed city in Northern England, during the early 19th century. There, Silas Marner, a weaver and a member of a small Calvinist congregation, is falsely accused of stealing the congregation's funds while watching over their very ill deacon. Two pieces of evidence are against Silas: his possession of a pocket knife and the bag that formerly contained the money.

1862. A goods train is speeding through the Sapperton Tunnel when it hits a makeshift pen of sheep inexplicably set up near the exit. The animals are slaughtered by the impact whilst the train hits a pile of rocks and is derailed, seriously injuring the occupants. Inspector Colbeck discovers that the shepherd and his dog are missing. Stephen Rydall who owned the sheep is shocked by the occurrence, which further affects him as he is a major shareholder in the Great Western Railway.

Halloween 1861. A special train with two carriages steams across the Lake District at night on its way to a place notorious for its record of supernatural incidents. Lighting inside the carriages is poor, and without warning, the lamp goes out in the last compartment of the second carriage, plunging it into darkness. When the special reaches the end of its journey, the passengers pour out on to the station platform. There are almost 60 of them in all, laughing and jostling.

A fiercely intelligent and moving second novel from the author of the acclaimed The Wilderness. Leonard Deppling returns to the capital from Scotland, where he has spent the past year nursing his dying father. Missing from the funeral was his younger brother William, a former lecturer and activist who lives with his wife and two young sons. Leonard is alone and rootless, he moves in with William hoping to unite their family and renew their friendship.

Bernard Cribbins's life has been an eventful one. In 1943, he left school aged fourteen and joined Oldham Repertory Company where he earned fifteen bob for a seventy-hour week. After being called up for National Service in 1946 he became a paratrooper and spent several months in Palestine being shot at. On returning home, and to the theatre, Bernard was eventually approached by George Martin, then an A&R man for Parlophone Records, who suggested he made a record.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Each year the Christmas card arrives from 'Leech', an unknown member of Timothy Trent’s family asking for money in return for their silence. But this year he’s determined to find out who is behind the cruel Christmas request and put an end to it once and for all....

Bullion! is the ultimate locked-room mystery. A ship transporting gold bullion is travelling from Melbourne to London. The gold is packed into chests and stored in a separate locked and sealed room. But mysterious whispering is heard in the night and chests seemingly disappear and return, leading the crew to think they’re losing their minds. Can the second mate get to the bottom of the mystery?